Church Road, Rudgeway, Bristol BS35

OLD CHURCH FARM - THE HOUSE
Old Church Farm is beautifully presented and despite being enlarged and altered over the centuries it retains original features appropriate to the period, and is very much Elizabethan in character. There are ornate plaster ceilings, rose and frieze, carved stone and inglenook fireplaces, wood panelled walls, flagstone floors, studded entrance doors with decorated stone entrance porch, and stone mullion windows. All rooms on both floors have lovely views over its formal gardens and grounds, and particularly to the east there are stunning views across to Bath. The present owners purchased the property in 2017. It is presently run as a highly successful boutique hotel and is credited with a number of 5* awards. It could easily revert to a very comfortable family home with considerable charm, using the lodge as ancillary accommodation, and converting the conference barn, subject to planning permission, into a superb leisure/swimming pool/cinema complex.

THE LODGE & CONFERENCE BARN
The Lodge sits in its own grounds and is part walled with high hedgerow and established trees creating privacy. The property was upgraded in 2019, has gas central heating and part underfloor heating. The kitchen has integrated appliances. The sitting room has a log burning stove. There is a dining room, three bedrooms and bathroom.

The Conference Barn is a stunning contemporary and imaginatively designed building with stone elevations under a pantile roof. The interior is very attractively designed over two floors with vaulted ceilings, exposed roof trusses, exposed stone walls and wood floors There are five conference/meeting rooms, including a skittle alley, fitted kitchen, cloakrooms and a goods lift. There is generous parking in front.

OUTSIDE
Old Church Farm is approached through a gated entrance passing the Conference Barn and The Lodge continuing to the front of the house. The gardens and grounds are neatly planned in compartments. The ornamental part-walled gardens in front of the house and divided into four rectangular beds planted with roses, with lawn pathways, and a circular lily pond with fountain. There are beds and borders of mature shrubs and plants, and ornamental trees. Outside the drawing room, is a large level lawn with extensive views, ideal for use as a croquet lawn, marquee area or tennis court, subject to any planning consents. Adjoining the formal gardens is a kitchen and soft fruit garden and there are a number of stone outbuildings around the grounds, including greenhouses. Behind the house, to the north east is a paddock interspersed with a variety of mature trees, fruit trees, a yew tree believed to be over two thousand years old and the remains of St Helen's church walls and 12th century tower.

The Land and Rights of Way - The vehicular access to the pasture land lying to the east is from the lane outside the property. Two footpaths cross over the land and are shown on the attached plan. The land amounts to 7.70 acres.

HISTORICAL NOTE
Old Church Farm was originally known as Alveston Manor and can trace its history back to Medieval times when it was owned by King Harold of Wessex prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was made a crown estate by William the Conqueror, and subsequent kings of England used it as a hunting lodge. In 1149 it was given to one of the Marchers, Fulk 1 Fiztwarin who had helped defend the English Welsh border. It was seized back by King John and the resulting feud between Faulk III and the king were the basis of the tales of Robin Hood. The ruins of the church of St Helen lie within the grounds and the 12th century tower and Saxon nave wall are a national monument. The property is mentioned in Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire Vol 2. and in Sir Robert Atkyns’s 1712 masterpiece, The Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire as well as the Domesday Book 1086.

Rudgeway is a small village lying between Almondsbury and Alveston with a strong community. It has a church, village hall and a public house. Thornbury, about 2.5 miles, is an attractive market town offering a comprehensive range of shopping facilities, including independent shops and supermarkets. There is a primary school in Alveston and a secondary school at Marlwood School in Thornbury. Private schooling at Tockington Manor Preparatory School in Tockington and at an choice of excellent schools in Bristol.

Directions (BS35 3SQ)
Having turned off the A38 from the Bristol direction, the entrance to Old Church Farm is seen along on the right hand side.